Inside The Feud Between Rose McGowan And Alyssa Milano

Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan may have known each other for two decades, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it. Originally appearing together on the WB series Charmed for five seasons, the two have frequently and publicly sparred, especially after the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the #MeToo movement that began the following year. Despite being vocal about many of the same issues, they often find themselves on opposing sides.

The pair most recently sparred on Twitter in August 2020, when McGowan called Milano a "fraud" in a series of tweets. The pair went back and forth, with McGowan accusing of Milano of creating a toxic environment on the Charmed set and of co-opting the #MeToo movement for her own benefit. Milano shot back, calling McGowan the real fraud and writing, "Thousands of people are dying a day but you go on with your hyperbolic attention-seeking tweets." This latest fight is just the latest in a long line of disagreements between the two, going back, as McGowan says, to the Charmed set. Here's what really happened.

Charmed began its run in 1998, starring Alyssa Milano alongside Holly Marie Combs and Shannen Doherty as three sister witches. However, Milano and Doherty did not get along on set. Milano acknowledged that there were tensions between the two of them during the filming of the third season. "There were times I'd come in and say 'Good morning, Shannen,' and she didn't say anything to me. And there were times she'd come in and say 'Good morning, Alyssa,' and I wouldn't say anything to her," Milano recalled at the time, per E! News. 

Although Doherty left the show at the end of the third season, Milano denied that she had issued an ultimatum to producers, as rumors claimed. For her part, Doherty simply claimed that there was "too much drama on the set" for her in an Entertainment Tonight interview. Either way, Doherty was out, and Rose McGowan was in as her replacement. 

However, McGowan's entrance did not smooth over tensions as everyone may have hoped. While her on-set tension with Milano was less publicized than the feud with Doherty, McGowan tweeted on August 21, 2020, "You made 250k a week on Charmed. You threw a fit in front of the crew, yelling 'They don't pay me enough to do this s***!' Appalling behavior on the daily. I cried every time we got renewed because you made that set toxic AF." Whatever took place on the set, McGowan has clearly not forgiven it.

Both Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan made headlines in 2017 for their involvement in the #MeToo movement that dominated national conversations and remade Hollywood. When The New Yorker broke a now-infamous Harvey Weinstein story, alleging he had sexually assaulted and harassed dozens of women in Hollywood, McGowan was especially vocal about her experience with the producer, alleging in a series of tweets that Weinstein had raped her and that Amazon studios dropped her after she told them.

Three days later, Milano posted the tweet that drew nationwide attention to the #MeToo movement, originally started by Tarana Burke in 2006. Coming off the heels of the litany of women sharing stories of abuse in Hollywood, Milano encouraged fellow survivors to share the hashtag #MeToo to expose how big the problem of sexual assault really is. 

While Milano and McGowan were both praised for their bravery and activism, they still had disagreements with each other. McGowan took issue with Milano's friendship with Weinstein's wife, and in an interview with ABC News' Nightline in early 2018, McGowan said of Milano, "I don't like her... I think she's a lie." She also disagreed with the Time's Up pins worn at the 2018 Golden Globes: "I know she's married to a CAA agent. Do the math. Who's behind Time's Up? CAA... Who needs good PR? CAA. Who are part of the pimp problem? CAA." In a written statement to Nightline, Milano responded, "I have always been completely supportive of Rose... My goal... has been to use my platform to give others a voice."

The disagreements between Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan, especially after #MeToo, also spilled over into the realm of politics. Milano has been an outspoken supporter of Democratic candidates, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Controversy arose in early 2020 after the end of Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign for president, when former Senate aide Tara Reade's sexual assault allegation against Biden received renewed attention. In April 2020, Milano said that she stands by Biden, telling Buzzfeed News, "I think when we get into this place of believing women, regardless of giving men due process, it actually does more harm to the movement than good." In response to Milano's stance, McGowan called her a "fraud" — not for the only time.

The disagreements over Biden were reignited in August 2020, beginning with a tweet from McGowan arguing that the Democrats have not done anything to materially help people. The next day, Milano posted a Twitter thread listing the achievements of the Democratic party over the past 100 years, encouraging people to cast their vote for Biden. It was this Twitter thread that inspired McGowan to respond with guns blazing, accusing of Milano of being unpleasant on the set of Charmed, of being a fraud, and of stealing and co-opting the #MeToo movement. 

One Twitter user shared a screenshot proving Milano had blocked them, and McGowan snarkily retweeted the screenshot with "#MeToo", implying that Milano had also blocked her. Despite the Twitter block, it seems unlikely that this feud is over for the duo.